Love Isn't Meant To Be This Hard
by mockingjay-x
Summary: My first HSM fic. I can't think up a summary, but read and review, please. I'd appreciate it. Rated M for future mature content.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first High School Musical fanfic, so be nice. It's not the best start, in fact, I've rewritten parts of it about 5 times. Read and review, please?**

* * *

Troy Bolton; Basketball Captain, Jock, Ladies man, the one who always got what he wanted. There were so many more things that Troy could be called, but the first three were the usual ones. Because he was the captain of the basketball team, which made him kind of fall into the 'jock' category, and he'd always had a way with the ladies. He was a bit of a player when it came to them, he seemed to find a way to charm them, get them into bed and move onto the next one. That had been his plan for High School, because he knew he could get away with it. It had worked so far, it had worked extremely well, and there wasn't going to be anything to come in his way, nothing was going to stop him. The teachers knew of his reputation, but there wasn't a single thing they could do to change it, to stop him from doing what he done. The amount of girls that had walked into one of their classes, glanced over at Troy then had tears appear in their eyes was unimaginable, but it had happened and Troy Bolton didn't seem to care.

That was until there was a quiet voice in homeroom as he was talking to Chad, an unfamiliar quiet voice and his head turned to see the shy looking brunette glancing around the room and back to Ms. Darbus. "Montez." Ms. Darbus muttered to herself as she looked at the paper that the brunette handed to her, then gazed around the room for an empty seat and as her eyes settled on the seat at the back of the room, a satisfied smile appeared on her lips. "There. At the back." She pointed as she looked at the brunette who nodded her head before making her way to the back of the room, taking the seat that Ms. Darbus had pointed out.

She felt eyes on her, she hated being the new girl, and no matter how many times she was that girl, the awkwardness never got old. Thankfully, as Ms. Darbus began to speak, all eyes fell back on the blonde haired teacher, all eyes that was expect the dark haired guy at the front. As her eyes caught his, Gabriella felt her cheeks flush a dark shade of red and she looked down at the table, almost certain that he had a grin on his face. After staring at her desk for a few minutes, she felt it was safe to look up, the guy now looking towards the front, leant back in his chair. No one had ever made her get like that, made her cheeks flush that color with just a look. It wasn't even that, they'd caught one another's eyes for all of a few seconds, that was it.

The rest of homeroom seemed to drag on, all fifteen minutes of it, and when she heard the bell, Gabriella let out a soft sigh of relief. Her eyes followed everyone as they made their way out of the room as quickly as possible, everyone that was expect that boy. The one who was slowly getting up from his chair, who turned to face her, that smirk on his face again. "Bolton." The sound of the older woman's voice caught them both by surprise and Gabriella watched as he turned around to face their teacher. "Perhaps since you're taking an usually long time to leave the room, you could ensure Ms. Montez knows where she's going."

Just as Gabriella opened her mouth to protest, she was stopped by the sound of his voice. "It would be my pleasure. On one condition?" The smirk was still visible on his face as he looked at his homeroom teacher, who rolled her eyes and waved her hand for him to go on. "No detention for two weeks."

"You say that as though you're up to something Mr. Bolton." She said as she raised her brow at the boy who was standing in front of her.

"What do you take me for Ms. Darbus?" He pretended to look innocent as though he had no idea what she was talking about, and even Gabriella wasn't falling for the look.

"A week."

Without even saying anything back, Troy turned back to face Gabriella with a satisfied grin on his face, gesturing towards the door. "After you, Ms. Montez." Troy spoke, the grin still spread across his face as he watched the brunette walk out warily in front of him. Something about her told him that this was going to be tough, that he was going to have to try harder than usual. But when Troy Bolton set his eyes on something, or someone, he got just what he wanted.

As they stepped out of the room, Gabriella turned to face the guy who had just offered to ensure she reached her classes on time, who definitely didn't seem like the type of guy to usually do it. "I can find it myself. You don't need to show me." She said as she felt her cheeks flush that bright red again, her eyes drifting from his down to the ground. She could almost sense the satisfied grin on his face because of how she was around him, but she wasn't going to look up to see it.

"You're getting me out of a week of detention, it's the least I can do…" Troy searched for a name, he knew her last name; Montez. "Montez." He settled on that, the grin turning into a genuine smile as he saw her look up at him.

"If you're sure… Bolton." Gabriella offered him a smile as she looked up at him, the smile on his face was different to before, it wasn't a cocky grin, a smirk to say something more than intended, it was a genuine smile.

"Troy." He offered his hand out towards her.

"Gabriella." She responded softly as she placed her hand in his, shaking it gently. If the looks he was giving her weren't enough, the feeling of his somewhat rough hand against her own soft one made her feel weak in the knees.

"You alright there, Montez?" Troy questioned, still choosing to use her last name.

Gabriella nodded slightly, pulling her hand from his grip as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Just a little nervous, first day and everything." It was a lie, a blatant lie. She didn't get this nervous on first days, she hated them, but she didn't get like this. It was definitely something to do with the guy who's hand had just held her own firmly in a handshake, whose smirk had made her blush uncontrollably.

"All right." Troy muttered, not convinced of her answer, but choosing to accept it anyway. "We should get to class. What's your first?"

"English." She whispered as she looked around the hallway, which was now empty except for the two of them.

"Mine too." Troy said almost as quietly as Gabriella had to him seconds before.

"We should go." Gabriella said feeling somewhat vulnerable around Troy all of a sudden and as she saw him begin to walk down the hallway, she followed him, catching him up and walking close beside him. "Troy?"

"Yeah, Montez?" He asked as he turned his head to look at her, seeing a smile creep upon her face.

"Why are you doing this? Because something tells me you don't normally associate with the new kid." She asked, the smile still half on her lips as she looked up into his deep blue eyes.

Shrugging his shoulders slightly, Troy looked at Gabriella with a small smile on his face. "Because I'm curious about you. You seem different."

"Different?" She questioned, she wasn't completely sure she liked the sound of it. What exactly did he mean, different?

"In a good way, definitely in a good way." Troy replied, nodding his head ever so slightly as he stopped outside a classroom, the door still open, and the noise coming from it told them both that there wasn't a teacher in there yet. "English awaits, Montez."

"It does, Bolton." She said, a small giggle escaping her lips as she looked up at him. "You're in here too, right?" It felt strange, she wanted him in the same class as her, even though there was something telling her to steer clear of this guy, she couldn't.

"Yeah, I am. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Good." She muttered before walking into the room, the stares starting all over again and she heard a quiet voice behind her. "Ignore them. They're just jealous that I've never walked with them to class, or asked them to sit beside me." Troy whispered as he placed his hand on the small of her back, steering her in the direction of his chair, giving the guy who sat beside him a glare, which made him immediately get up and move seats.

Gabriella couldn't help but giggle slightly as she settled down on the seat that Troy had just managed to silently clear and she looked up at him as he took a seat beside her, before she looked around the room. All the eyes had gone back to whatever it was they were doing, all except the one pair, a blonde haired girl sitting near to the front. "Troy?" Gabriella questioned quietly.

"Yeah?" He asked as he looked at her, seeing her leaning into him slightly.

"Who's that? Blonde hair, looking this way as though she hates me."

"Sharpay Evans. Don't get on the wrong side of her, please?" Troy said as he glanced over at Sharpay who suddenly turned around and started a conversation with the boy beside her.

"Why?"

"She's had this obsession with me since sixth grade, everyone who I'm around, female that is, she gets jealous and always seems to do someone to ruin them. I've never liked her." He said honestly as he looked at Gabriella, a small grin on his face.

"Obsession? Are you really that great, Troy Bolton?" She teased as she turned to face him a little more, her leg brushing against his slightly.

"I like to think so." He responded with a grin as he kept his eyes on her dark brown ones.

"Ego's pretty big too." Gabriella giggled again as she saw a teacher walk in, say something about they'd have a cover teacher soon and to settle down. Nothing changed though, as soon as the teacher walked out, the uproar began again.

Troy sat there with a smile on his face as he heard Gabriella giggle, the two of them watching the rest of the class talking and laughing amongst themselves.

_**Troy&GabriellaTroy&GabriellaTroy&GabriellaTroy&GabriellaTroy&GabriellaTroy&GabriellaTroy&GabriellaTroy&Gabriella**_

The rest of the day seemed to pass by fairly quickly no problems, other than Troy leaving Gabriella when he had a free period and she found herself lost in the hallways. Other than the moment she had walked into homeroom that morning, this was the only time she felt nervous, scared almost. She realised that was because she didn't have Troy by her side, telling her some story about some kid they passed in the hallway, or making a lame joke which she still found herself laughing at anyway.

Now, it was the end of the day and Gabriella was standing at her locker, staring at the books she had in it as though they'd suddenly make their own way into her bag. Because right at that moment, she didn't want to leave the building she'd found herself lost in earlier that day. Gabriella wanted to see Troy, but he had mentioned something about basketball practice and he would see her the next day.

With a small sigh, Gabriella pulled the books from the small shelf at the top of her locker before slamming the door shut and making her way down the hallway towards the main entrance of the school. Troy Bolton should not have this effect on her, she should not want to be around him constantly.

But when she walked out of the front doors to see him sitting on the steps, a book resting on his knees as he looked down at it, Gabriella smiled to herself as she walked down the few steps and took a seat beside him. "This what you people at East High call Basketball?" She teased as she looked at him, he looked frustrated, a little upset maybe.

"It was cancelled." He muttered, his eyes not leaving the book that was resting on his knees.

"Oh." Gabriella said feeling somewhat defeated as she looked down at the ground in front of her for a few seconds before bringing her gaze back up to Troy. "Are you all right, Bolton?"

"Fine, Montez." He lied, before letting out a deep sigh, his gaze drifting from his book up to Gabriella's eyes. "I'm fine, Gabriella."

"All right, I don't believe you, but I'll leave it at that." She said with a tiny smile as she gently nudged his arm. "I should get going, Troy Bolton."

Troy felt disappointed as he heard those last words, he wanted more time with her, not just a few minutes on the steps after school. "Can I walk you home, Gabriella Montez?" He asked as he stood up, offering her his hand.

"I'd like that. On one condition?" She said with a smirk spreading across her face, after she repeated his words from the earlier conversation with Ms. Darbus.

"Sure."

"You walk me to school in the morning."

"I'd like that." He said softly, as he draped his arm around her shoulder, gently pulling her close to himself. "I'd like that a lot, Gabriella Montez."

"You're a good guy, Troy Bolton. A really good guy." She said with a soft sigh as she leant into him. It was her first day and she'd only really spoken to one person all day, and that was this guy who's arm was draped around her shoulder. She'd got so many dirty looks from different people all day, and she hated it, but she couldn't understand whether it was to do with Troy or not. Something told her that she shouldn't, be around him, at least not as much as she had been, but she couldn't stop. Not when she enjoyed his company too much.

As they walked in the direction of Gabriella's house, they started to talk about things, nothing much, just school and people there. Gabriella found herself asking most of the questions, because it didn't seem as though Troy was going to actually ask anything. He seemed quite happy answering things about other people and keeping the focus off of himself. Why that was, Gabriella didn't know, but she had a feeling that if she pressed it too much, things wouldn't go as well as they were going.

As the reached her house, Gabriella stopped and turned to face Troy, fiddling with the strap on her bag nervously. "This is me." The shy side of her suddenly reappearing as she looked down at the ground, stepping away from Troy a little.

"Hey, Montez. Don't get all like that now." Troy said as he placed his hand underneath her chin, lifting her head up to face him slightly.

"Sorry." She said as she smiled softly at him.

"No need to be." Troy glanced at her house briefly then back to Gabriella. "I should let you go, I'm sure you have things to do, family to talk to about your first day at school."

"I... My Mom will be working until who knows when. I have an empty house to walk into." Gabriella said as she stepped away from Troy a little more. "Thanks for walking me home, Bolton."

"I'll see you in the morning, Montez." Troy said with a small smile as he watched Gabriella walk up to her house, letting herself in, before closing the door behind her. Troy Bolton wasn't sure whether this new 'conquest' was going to be easy, because this girl was different. She was intriguing. He wanted to know her, not just for a quick fuck, he wanted to know her, Gabriella Montez." Letting out a sigh, Troy turned around and began to walk down the street in the direction of his house. "Gabriella Montez." He muttered under his breath, she was going to ruin him, he knew it.

* * *

**Yes, I know the two of them are getting on well pretty fast. But no fear, it's not all like that. There's drama, believe me. There will be drama. Just be patient. Still, review please! =]**


	2. Chapter 2

Apologies for the lack of updates, life has really taken it's toll lately. But as I was sitting there watching HSM, how could I not update?

Reviews are appreciated.

* * *

Another day at East High, another dreaded day of walking into homeroom and doing something stupid. Although, it didn't bother her quite as much as she thought that it would, because Troy Bolton was meant to be walking her to school. Something was telling her that it was too good to be true, that something would happen and he would no longer be this nice guy that she had met one her first day, that had shown her round. There was something more to him, but Gabriella Montez had no idea what it was. Letting out a deep sigh, she pushed the sheets off of her slender figure as she stretched in her bed, glancing over at her clock which read; 6am. She hated mornings, that had been a known thing since she was about ten, she absolutely loathed mornings.

"Gabi! Are you up?" She heard her Mother call up the stairs and Gabriella let out a soft groan as she got up out bed and dragged her feet along the carpet towards the bathroom.

"I'm up, Mama." She called down groggily before slamming the bathroom door a little harder than she intended to, only to hear her Mother shout up the stairs telling her not to slam the door. It didn't bother Gabriella though, she wanted a shower to wake herself up, then to get dressed and make her way to school with Troy.

Fifteen minutes later and Gabriella was walking out of the bathroom and into her room towards her closet, she had no idea what she was going to wear, but eventually settled on dark blue jeans, a pale pink tank top and a grey cardigan. She wasn't in the mood to dress up much, plus, there wasn't really anyone she was out to impress. At least, not yet there wasn't. Though, Troy Bolton definitely wouldn't be someone she pushed aside completely.

As she got dressed, a small smile crept upon her lips at the thought of Troy meeting her, it was too soon to feel butterflies, wasn't it? It had to be, she'd only known him a day, she wasn't meant to get all like this. Not after knowing the guy for a day.

Once Gabriella was completely ready for school, she made her way downstairs to see her Mother standing at the kitchen counter, coffee in hand, flicking through the morning paper. "Morning." Gabriella muttered as she put her bag on the counter walking to the coffee machine and pouring herself a small cup of the dark liquid.

"Good morning, sunshine." Maria Montez said cheerfully as she looked at her daughter. "Looking forward to your second day at East High?"

"Not really." Gabriella muttered before taking a small sip of her coffee, leaning against the counter. "Are you working again tonight?"

"Yeah, it's going to be late again, but I'll leave you something in the fridge to heat up, all right?"

"Sure." Gabriella mumbled as she took another sip of her coffee, glancing up at the clock at she done so. They'd never talked about a time when Troy was getting to hers, and she hated that. She hated not knowing little things like that. But surely he couldn't be too much longer, surely he couldn't turn up any later if he wanted to get to school on time.

"Isn't it about time you left?" Maria asked her daughter just as the doorbell rang, and she saw a smile appear on Gabriella's face for the first time that morning.

"Yeah. I'm going. I'll see you later, maybe." Gabriella said as she placed her half empty coffee cup near to the sink before picking up her bag from the counter. "Bye Mom."

"Bye sweetheart." Maria said softly as she watched her daughter walk out of the kitchen and towards the front door. She had no idea who it was at the door, but with her daughters mood, she decided it was safer not to question it, not yet.

As Gabriella opened the door, a smile spread across her lips as she saw the guy standing in front of her, he was wearing jeans and a plain blue polo shirt, his hair a slight mess, but he looked absolutely amazing. "Hey, Bolton."

"Montez." Troy said back with a grin on his face as his eyes trailed down her slender figure, hoping that Gabriella didn't notice. "I'm a little later than I planned, my Mom decided that she wanted to talk about anything and everything this morning." Troy said as they walked down to the side walk, feeling Gabriella's arm loop through his own.

"It's fine. I've only actually been ready for about five minutes, so I don't mind, Bolton." Gabriella said as she held a little tighter onto Troy's arm. "It took me longer than I thought to get ready."

"You mean, you don't wake up looking this beautiful?" He asked with a sly smile, gently nudging Gabriella as they walked along.

"No, I looked like crap this morning. I still do." She complained softly.

"You don't, and I doubt that you did." Troy muttered, walking alongside Gabriella who was staring down at the floor. "You all right, Gabi?" He questioned as he looked at her.

"I'm good." She said unconvincingly as she looked up at Troy. "I just... Nothing."

There was something about the tone in her voice which told Troy not to ask anything else, so the rest of the walk to school was pretty much silent. Not awkward though, comfortable. A pleasant comfortable silence, that was what it was.

Well, until they were walking up to the school and suddenly Gabriella detached her arm from Troy's and saw a group of people calling out to him. "You should go. Your friends are calling you." She whispered as she began to walk away from him.

"Gabi!" He called as she walked away, jogging to catch up with her. "Hey, Montez. Come with me." He nodded his head towards his friends, who he knew were looking at them both.

"No, you go. I'll see you in home room, Bolton." Gabriella said softly before walking away from Troy and into school, heading towards homeroom. She's see him soon enough.

As she took her seat in the classroom, there were only a few people in there, a brunette girl who was on the desk beside her who was working away on something Gabriella could only assume was a composition. Then there were a couple of girls talking and on their cell phones at the front, neither seemed like people that Gabriella would find herself associating with. As she sat there staring at the door, her attention was soon brought back to the moment as she heard a quiet voice. "You're Gabriella, right?"

Gabriella turned her head to the brunette beside her who was looking up at her with a shy smile on her face, as Gabriella nodded her head slightly. "Yeah."

"I'm Kelsi. It's not that great being the new kid, huh?" She said, her voice still as soft as the first time she spoke.

"You know what it's like?" Gabriella questioned as she turned to face Kelsi, curious to hear what Kelsi felt like being the new student.

"Yeah, I started half way through last semester, I hated it. You've gotta learn who you can trust and who you can't." Kelsi glanced towards the door just as Troy walked through with the people had been waiting for him outside. "Some of those, you can't trust."

"Like who?" Gabriella grew curious and she glanced at Troy who was in conversation with a dark skinned guy with an afro, who's arm was draped around an African-American girl. As she saw Troy glance at her, she quickly turned back to Kelsi who was answering her question.

"Chad, the one with his arm around the girl, apparently before he started dating Taylor, he was a player. She's in pretty much all AP classes, and acts like she's nice, but she's not. Apparently, her and Sharpay are pretty close. Zeke, the one behind Troy, he's had a crush on Sharpay since forever, but apparently, she's not into her relationships. She's quite happy sleeping around. You shouldn't get on the wrong side of her either." Kelsi said as she looked at Gabriella, fiddling with the corner of her notebook.

"Troy said that." Gabriella said softly, her gaze going back to the blue eyed boy who had walked her to school. "What about Troy?"

"He's a good guy. He just gets led astray by Chad. Sure, he had his time when everyone thought different, but I've seen a different side to him." Kelsi said softly and her eyes were brought away from Gabriella as someone else walked into the room and Gabriella automatically looked in the direction of the door.

"Who's that?" Gabriella asked as she watched Sharpay with a blonde haired boy following behind her, glancing in Kelsi's direction, a small smile on his face.

"Ryan Evans. Sharpay's brother." Kelsi said softly as she looked back down at her book and began to doodle on it.

"Kels?" Gabriella questioned as she looked back at the girl beside her, she wasn't convinced it was just a matter of 'Ryan Evans. Sharpay's brother.' She had a feeling that there was something more.

"He's Ryan. He's...." Kelsi didn't know what to say, and she just looked up at Gabriella, her cheeks flushing a light pink color.

"How long have you liked him?" Gabriella questioned, a smirk on her lips as she looked eagerly at her new found friend.

"Since I started here. About that anyway." Kelsi said, she was about to continue to speak when they were interrupted by the sound of a familiar male voice, causing them both to look up.

"Hey, Kels. Gabi? Can I talk to you?" Troy asked softly as he knelt down near her table, after Kelsi had greeted him and gone back to working on her composition.

"Troy, there's nothing to talk about. I'm not about to come between you and your friends. Because the looks I've been getting from them, I don't think they like me." Gabriella stated softly as he gaze looked over to Chad and Taylor who was whispering to one another, but glancing over in her direction.

"Gabi." Troy pleaded, as he looked at Gabriella, hoping she'd change her mind.

"Go see your friends, Bolton. I'll see you around." Gabriella said, her voice still just as soft as she gave his arm a gentle nudge with her hand, once again looking over at Chad and Taylor.

"I'll talk to you later, Montez." Troy muttered reluctantly as he got up from where he was kneeling and walked back over to his seat, sighing as he sat down. Maybe getting Gabriella Montez to be friends with him was going to be harder than he thought.

As Ms. Darbus entered the room, Troy looked back at Gabriella once again, who was fiddling with one of the buttons on her cardigan as she looked straight ahead. He could tell she wasn't paying attention, that there was something going through her mind, but he had no idea what. If only she'd talk to him, then maybe he'd know. Then maybe he would be able to help her get through whatever it was bothering her. But no, she seemed adamant that she didn't want to come between him and his friends.

"Hoops?" He heard the sound of his best friend; Chad Danforth, whispering to him.

"What?" Troy asked as he looked away from Gabriella to his best friend, he knew Ms. Darbus was silently making sure they were all there, like she did every single morning.

"We're heading down the court tonight, you in?" The guy sitting beside Troy asked, causing Troy to glance back at Gabriella briefly before answering his friend.

"I have stuff to do. Maybe, tomorrow?" Troy suggested just as Ms. Darbus done her usual talk of the morning, droning on about things the class didn't really care about, but they always had to at least pretend they were listening to. He didn't get whether Chad responded or not, and hoenstly, right at that moment, he didn't care. All he cared about was that dark haired girl sitting at the back of the class actually talking to him, and not thinking that what his friends said mattered to him.

It was about ten minutes later when the bell went and as usual everyone quickly got up from their seats and made their way out of the room. Troy lagging behind his friends slightly in hope of talking to Gabriella, but she seemed too caught up in a conversation with Kelsi. Maybe getting to talk to her wouldn't be quite as easy as he had first anticipated. But he got along with Kelsi, he liked the girl, despite a lot of his friends not liking her, Troy liked her. Maybe she'd make Gabriella see that despite the rumors that went around about him, he wasn't a bad guy after all.

**TROY&GABRIELLATROY&GABRIELLATROY&GABRIELLATROY&GABRIELLATROY&GABRIELLA**

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, well other than a few comments in Gabriella's direction from Taylor and Sharpay. But she stuck by Kelsi most of the day, but the times she wasn't, that was when she got the comments from Taylor and Sharpay. They didn't even know her, so what was there to say about her? She couldn't quite work it out. If it was to do withTroy, it had been his choice to talk to her, she hadn't wanted him to talk to her, though she didn't mind that he did. Saying that, since home room that morning he hadn't even tried talking to her and she missed it. She missed Troy.

God, she had known him for all of two days and because on the second of those, he hadn't been talking to her, she missed him. As the final bell of the day rang, Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of finally going home and not hearing any comments from anyone for the rest of the day.

"Gabriella?" She heard the timid voice of Kelsi behind her and she picked up her bag and pulled it over her shoulder as she turned towards the girl. "Troy's a good guy." She said softly, not waiting for Gabriella to say anything before walking away from her.

What did she mean by that? There had to be something to it, something more than the obvious anyway. Even though the two hadn't shared a great deal of information with one another yet, Gabriella had been able sense immediately that Kelsi liked Ryan, and obviously, she had been able to tell that Gabriella felt something for Troy.

Making her way slowly out of the classroom, the hallway was deserted already, except for a few people grabbing things out their lockers or waiting for someone to get something from their locker. Gabriella kept her head down as she made her way to the front of the school and out of the main doors, there were a lot more people out here. Some getting into their cars, others standing around in groups talking, others heading to the buses, and a few slowly making their way home by foot.

Gabriella quickened her pace as she saw Chad, Sharpay, Taylor, Zeke and another guy standing around talking, but Troy wasn't there. Maybe he had left already, or had detention, or something. She heard a snide remark shoot from Chad's mouth and she just bit her bottom lip as she walked in the direction of her own home. She hated East High, she hated Albuquerque. Absolutely hated it.

Fifteen minutes later and she was fumbling in her bag for her door key when she heard the familiar deep tone that belonged to Troy Bolton. "Montez. It's usually best to look where you're heading, because otherwise you'll either fall over, or not see people sittting outside your house wondering when you're actually going to get in from school."

Gabriella looked up at him just as she found her key and pulled it from her bag, walking up the pathway leading up to her front porch. "What do you want, Troy?" She asked, feeling slightly agitated at the sight of him sitting there. "Shouldn't you be with your friends, making snide comments towards the new girl?"

"I've told them to stop." He said sincerely, avoiding her first question as he stood up from the step on her porch. "I told them to leave you alone."

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders slightly as she walked past him and unlocked the front door. Before going inside, she turned around to look at Troy to see him standing there looking at her in hope that she wouldn't completely ignore him. "Why are you here, Troy?"

"Because you wouldn't talk to me at school and each time I wanted to, you were with Kelsi." Troy stepped slightly closer to Gabriella as he continued to talk. "I like Kelsi. She's into Ryan, isn't she?" The only response he got was another shrug of the shoulders from Gabriella who was glancing around, almost trying to get away. "Look, whatever I've done, I'm sorry."

"Kelsi said you a good guy. Today, in home room, we were talking about all your friends, at least she was telling me about them. She said you were a good guy, but you get led astray." The brunette looked up at him, her eyes falling on his. "I want to believe her, but I'm not here to get made fun of by your friends. You choose your friends, Troy. You chose the group of people who already hate me at a school I've only been at for two days. I think I'm gonna have a hard time believing that you are a good guy."

The two of them stood there for a few seconds, silence filling the air before Gabriella turned around and walked inside of her house, closing the door behind her. East High wasn't going to be much fun, not when there was this guy she was already attracted to a lot more than she should. She was going to have to face things though, whether Troy was a part of it or not.


End file.
